Extinction of the native blue mud shrimp in Washington, Oregon, and California estuaries, is due to the blood-sucking parasite Griffen's isopod that was introduced to North America in the 1980s. Dr. John Chapman's conservation research in the last decade, on the life history and ecology of this shrimp and parasite has been in support of local, state and federal agencies. Declines of the critically important blue mud shrimp continue. No recovery plan is in place.
Did you know? Effective female castration by an introduced Asian isopod crustacean parasite is driving all blue mud shrimp populations to ecological or absolute extinction. The parasite, Orthione griffenis, is the first known introduced bopyrid isopod and the mud shrimp extinctions underway are the first marine extinctions linked directly to an introduced species.